How do I export closed-captioned movies from Premiere CS6?

[LesMLunce]

I am using Premiere CS6 (Windows 7) to create a movie with closed captioning. I use the MovieCaptioner software (http://www.synchrimedia.com/) to create the mcc captions dada file. In Premiere I attach the mcc file to a timeline sequence and enable closed captioning display. I can see the movie with captions in the program window. In closed captioning settings I have cc area and service both set to 1. I am having difficulty finding the correct set of parameters that will make Premiere export a movie which includes and displays the captions.

Les M. Lunce. lmlunce@gmail.com

[Kevin-Monahan]

dstack1014 wrote:

Kevin, I sent a bug report. Here's what I wrote, followed by their response...

I WROTE:

I'd like to bring you attention to all of us frustrated editors who have to deal with closed captioning, and are expected to export media with CC embedded. Some of us have turned to FCP on a Mac for this task. Please see the Adobe forum thread on this subject:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/5860002#5860002

dstack,

You can always use a third party application for this.

This thread is some months old, but I hope it is clear to you that when I said to file a feature request (not bug report, though it is the same form), that feature can't be added to any current version of an application. You must wait until a future version is released if you are to see a requested feature at all.

ADOBE'S RESPONSE:

That forum isn’t very productive to be honest.

We are not adding features to CS6 apps other than supporting them on current operating systems.   Premiere Pro CC adds embedding of Closed Captions and a full fledged editing captures feature.  It embeds captions into mxf and .mov files.   It also allows export of .scc and .mcc external side car files. 

Cheers

Dave

I'm not sure why Dave said that this forum (thread) isn't very productive. I don't believe that's the case. Again, I was not suggesting to users on this thread that anything could be added to CS6 when I say "make a feature request." Recall that this post was made before Creative Cloud was announced or launched.

dstack1014 wrote:

I'm so disappointed that this hasn't been more of a priority for Adobe, Sony, or even FCP.  BTW, earlier I meant to mention Apple's Compressor, not FCP. As far as I know FCP still doesn't embed CC.

It's possible to create your own CC captions now, although it has always been recommended to use a third party product for the purpose of creating your original captions. Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Kevin

[cavisto]

Haaa  they are listening, just wont do anything about it!  Good job guys, got enough staff to troll forums but cant make a simple feature available, when everyone says I'm gogin to leave your software and got to FCP, oh sure  .."go/ wish"  keep doing that like we have all put in requests for this many times before..  You know what Adobe, go f@ck your self.  Seriously.  Over it.

[ZGravity]

We've had success manually entering captions in premier pro cc then exporting the movie with the captions as a sidecar. Then use apple compressor to make the final movie and attaching the scc (caption) file. This is done in the info/additional tab that comes up when you double click on the movie window in the compressor batch window. Use VLC to check that the captions are there (turn on subtitles view--line 1). We are working on a 30 min show for broadcast. We find most stations have success with an mpeg2 format. If your movie is HD then make sure when you are creating the caption in premier that you use line 708. 608 is for SD. Although many stations can pull it from either line. You have to choose 708 or 608 when you first create the caption layer... There's no switching this after you've begun captioning without 3rd party software. We talked to adobe yesterday about this. MovieCaptioner worked well for us to create the script but we had issues with the captions in the final movie. They were garbled. That could just be our unfamiliarity with MovieCaptioner. If someone had success with that, let us know, as it would save tons of time.

[jct2012]

Hello all,

Just learned the bad news about not being able to export an .mp4 file with embedded captions in CS6.

On this project the client asked for a YouTube upload with closed captions. No problem. Uploaded video and imported the .scc file.

Oh, by the way could I get a Standard Def DVD with closed captions. No problem. Added .scc file in Encore.

Oh also could I get an .mp4 file with closed captions? Problem in CS6. Cannot export file with CC embedded.

Suggested workarounds?

Thanks in advance, John

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi jct2012,

Have you considered updating to Premiere Pro CC? If so, update or at least check out the trial version.

Thanks,
Kevin

[jct2012]

Kevin,

Thanks for the reply.

So PP CC will allow embedding of Closed Captions with an export to an .mp4 file?

Can this be done on the trial version?

I use ppro infrequently and am reluctant to upgrade to CC just for this project?

Thanks, John

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi John,

jct2012 wrote:

So PP CC will allow embedding of Closed Captions with an export to an .mp4 file?

Yes, if it's a QuickTime file.

jct2012 wrote:

Can this be done on the trial version?

Yes.

I use ppro infrequently and am reluctant to upgrade to CC just for this project?

No worries. I hope you consider using it in the future if you need to.

Thanks,
Kevin

[GWhizzDobe]

Do not waste your time. it will NOT ever export an mpeg 2 with cc!!!

We had to buy a mac, and use fcp.

You got 30 minutes of video that needs closed caption attached and exported into mpeg2.

We can do it for you at only $49.00.

NO one can do it for that price.

that even includes the captioning into an scc file!!

QUIT wasting your time. it was a nightmare.

[Guest]

GWhizzDobe, what version of FCP? Or did you mean Apple Compressor? I've found that Compressor is highly unreliable for embedding SCC files and I have no way of checking it.

[SAMESLAREDO]

where can i send you the file to be able to caption it?

[marchofer]

To be honest, just reading through this threat gave me a headache.

Closed Captions, if you like it or not Adobe, are an essential part of todays broadcast environment. Period. No dancing around it. Referring people to a third party tool, is a hot fix, but not really helpful in the long run. To work fast and efficient I don't want to switch between different programs where I run into the danger that I will constantly create hiccups or unwanted results cause this or that element is not working together well, creating more delays and more stress for everyone involved.

That said, just looking at PP CC right now, I can see that most of the tech is already IN the program. Its just pretty shoddy implemented. But with some tweaking and polishing the thing could really fly well and make a lot of people happy ( and YES I made a feature request …some time ago). Bottom line is, Closed Captions or Subtitles are annoying but necessary and no editor wants to invest more time in implementing them as absolutely necessary. So make it sleek, fast, flexible and nice and you will have many fans.

I imported an SLT file that was created by the translator with a 3rd party software, brought it into the NLE and it worked. It looked all messed up though, but the text was there. I still can't work with it in a sensible way cause the format of the text in the program monitor is so bad, that I can't read it ( very very tiny ). The text is there, the rendering IN the program monitor is there…so what makes the program stop to not let me touch the look and feel of the text !? The parameters are all presented already. So just open the door for us.

The same as exporting. YES, I WANT a sidecar file. With as many different formats as possible ( that work ). And as well, the internal render engine can get the text for the program monitor. So why not giving us the possibility of "burn it" into the file  ( as I said, feature request has been done ).

This are small little changes and they would make such a huge difference to many of us.